Seattle
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34th Street Garage
We've Rolled Back Our Prices to 2002 Labor Rates! We know times are tough, but you've still got to get your car fixed. So, we've worked
hard to reduce rates for you...and we did...back to 2002 rates!
Since 1973, 34th Street Garage has been servicing and repairing vehicles for the Magnolia and surrounding Seattle neighborhoods. 34th Street Garage does domestic and foreign auto repair, keeping an in-shop stock of Chrylser, Ford, Nissan, GM, Honda and Toyota parts. Their state of art diagnostic equipment gives you the assurance that they don't miss any problem your car might have. Gene, the shop's owner, also has a vast knowledge of classic and performance cars. He is your local hot rod shop. Gene's passion is cars and also customer service. He knows the first name of all his customers and wants to know yours as well.
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Integrity and Excellent Service.
My wife brought my car in to have the battery replaced and oil changed. The technician must not have tightened the drain plug enough though, because on the return trip from Snoqualmie Pass two days
later, we lost it entirely and the engine died a few minutes later. This is really just a forgetful mistake, not evidence of a general ineptness.
We were distraught, and based on some experiences at other garages in the past, thought we were going to have to fight with them to get it fixed. Quite the contrary though.
Gene the owner is semi-retired and typically only works one day at the shop. He personally spoke us every day for the next three days while he towed the car to the shop, ordered an engine with 85000 fewer miles, replaced it, performed some additional, optional maintenance and detailed the car, inside and out. He also furnished us with a rental car and apologized vehemently.
I was hoping to have an equivalent replacement engine at no cost, but they went above and beyond my expectations, definitely earning my trust and confidence.…
Great Service, Knowledgeable Staff, Great Prices. Our friends raved about 34th Street Garage and we are too! My husband started taking his "baby" there and was very pleased. My Mercedes has always been serviced at the dealer but recently needed significant work and 34th was several hundred dollars less. The work was done beautifully and they stayed open late to finish it up. We're raving about them now too!…
Great Sevice, Nice Staff, Affordable..
The first time I went into 34th Street Garage to make an appointment, a few years ago, my turn signals on my VW Passat were blinking fast and i thought the car would need major electrical repair.
Gene, the owner, knew exactly what was wrong. Even though they were really busy Gene went out to the car and immediatly found a bad rear bulb in my left turn signal light. He quickly renewed the bulb and...bingo, fixed. I asked him what i owed him and he said "nothing, we dont nickel and dime our customers" Wow...exceptional...especially in this day and age. I dont have to explain to anybody how hard it is to find a good mechanic!!
The second time we took the Passat in we had a different unexpected problem. My wife was driving the car this time and called me from starbucks to inform me that the car was steering poorly and pulling. I told her to go see Gene and drop the car off to have it inspected as they were just around the corner. Planning on picking her up, i was just about out the door when she calls me back and says not to bother as the problem was a low tire and they would have it fixed in twenty minutes. I was relieved that it was a simple fix and all the tire needed was a screw removed and then a patch. Knowing that Less Shwab fixed tires for free, I had her have Gene fix it anyway as he had treated me right the time before. I asked her what they had dinged her for on the tire and she told me they fixed tires for free as well!! She even tried to tip the mechanic and he wouldnt take it!
Today i was in for an oil change. Today I was bound and determined to give 34th Street Garage some of my money...no freebies this time as the guilt would get to me, LOL!. I was a little put off at the price of the oil change ($108.00) and thought "ok, this is how they get ya" My oil changes previously at Jiffy Lube have been no more than $69.00 for sinthetic. But Eric explained that there are only a few brands of sinthetic oil (that are more expensive) that VW recommends in my Passat. My car specifically needs a sinthetic oil with a specific API rating (005 500) . Confused, I looked at my owners manual and sure enough, I confirmed what he had said. This means that Jiffy Lube had been instaling the wrong sinthetic oil in my car all along and nobody at Jiffy Lube ever told me of this VW requirement. Not in all my many visits. I have to take some blame as well for not reading my owners manual earlier. Its unsettling to know that my car has had the wrong oil in it ever since it went off warranty 34,000 miles ago.
Anyway, I will not ever take my car anywhere else but 34th Street Garage now. Gene and Eric are professional old school straight shooters and they dont blow smoke up my a_ _ and they dont sugarcoat important information about my car. They are eager to "show me" what is wrong with my car...not just tell me. Today i recieved a good amount of information about my car that nobody has ever taken the time to explain to me. They showed me a few things, coming up, that I need to budget for and didnt pressure me. Most of all they listened!! How's that!!! Unbelievable!!…
Worst garage experience in my life, too!. I've never, ever, ever, had a mechanic manhandle my car the way it was done during initial diagnosis, and I've never had a car returned to me dirty. The steering wheel was greasy, the gear shift knob was greasy, the keys were greasy, the door handle was greasy and the floor mat was filthy. We scrubbed the hard surfaces with a cleanser and then with glass cleaner AND then I used a baby wipe that came away dirty from the remaining grime. Didn't like the customer service guy, either. Very defensive when I expressed concern. Oh, and no storage lot, so your car sits on the street before and after it's serviced.…
Worst automotive service experience in our lives.
My girlfriend needed an oil change and found a Valpack coupon for a $19.95 oil change at the 34th St. Garage. She dropped the car off while I waited in the other car. She confirmed that she was in
for the $19.95 oil change, discussed the need for synthetic oil, and then we left.
When we got home a few hours later, the garage had left a message. She called and was told she needed a $1,900.00 coolant pump (we were already aware of the slight leak, and knew it wasn't urgent). She declined that repair. She was then told that the oil change was done, and that they had put in a new, $30.00 air filter. That, plus the synthetic oil, brought the bill for the $19.95 "oil change, filter and lube" up to $120.00!
When my girlfriend protested and pointed out that no one said anything about synthetic oil costing more, here is what "Eric" said: "You can pay for the synthetic oil or I'll have it changed out and replaced with the wrong oil."
In short, THEY made a mistake, then browbeat my girlfriend and threatened to damage her car! Neither of us has EVER been treated so rudely before by any "service provider," period.
In the end, they made it right and charged her the $19.95, but that does not excuse the intolerably rude behavior and overt threat. Given their treatment of my girlfriend, I wouldn't trust these guys to tie my shoes. And we will NEVER again take a car to these creeps.…
